


Fortuitous

by glim



Category: Atlantis (UK TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Academia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Graduate School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 05:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4613478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not that Pythagoras doesn't expect anyone who works in the bookstore to be that good-looking; he just doesn't expect to notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortuitous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slightlytookish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightlytookish/gifts).



> For slightlytookish, because she was having a bad day at work and needed adorable nerd boyfriends. <3

The easiest way to tell that the fall semester would be starting soon is to take a walk through the campus bookstore. The sparse clearance racks have been replaced with a maze of school supplies and spirit wear, all displayed in a way to entice first-year students and parents to spend as much as possible in as little time as possible. 

Well, perhaps that's ungenerous, Pythagoras thinks and winds his way from the best sellers and football team hoodies at front of the store to the textbooks at the back. He'd purchased his fair share of tee shirts and sweatshirts as an undergrad; after three years in grad school, however, he was having something of a hard time drumming up much school spirit. It probably didn't help that aside from the bookstore, library, and math department, the only place he really knew on campus was the one cafe that opened before seven a.m. 

And it really didn't help that Pythagoras had already been to two of those places today. First the cafe, then the library that morning; now, the bookstore, and probably his office after that. He should probably try the Grad Student Society again, before his dissertation became his life in a few weeks.

He shrugs, then braces himself for the endless aisles of textbooks at the rear of the store. There's a massive wall of Psych 101 books, then an artfully arranged pyramid of various colored notebooks and binders, and, finally, the other books. Pythagoras wanders through various departments until he finds Mathematics, kneels down. and squints at the cards in front of the bookstacks. 

"Do you need any help?"

"No, no, I go through this nearly every semester..." Pythagoras glances up at the salesperson, smiles briefly at the man, and then goes back to looking at the books. When the man lingers, he glances up again. Jeans, blue button-up shirt, store ID lanyard (Icarus, Assistant Manager). Handsome, he thinks, and finds himself surprised by the thought. Not that he doesn't expect anyone who works in the bookstore to be that good-looking; he just doesn't expect to notice. 

"I suppose you're not very busy here yet."

"No, not for another week or so. A few eager students, I suppose. If you have your print-out from the website, I could--"

"I only have it on my phone, but I don't need--" About to refuse again, Pythagoras looks up from the shelves and this time he meets quite possibly the warmest, most open smile he's seen on campus in, well, maybe the whole three years he's been here. 

Something in his chest gives a little tug, and he finds himself returning the smile and handing over his phone before his has a chance to say anything else. 

Icarus takes his phone, still smiling, and his dark hair falls over his face as he looks down at the screen. "You've found the pre-calc books and we have more than enough of those, so you should be fine. Here's your section," he says, then touches Pythagoras on the arm to nudge him further down the aisle. 

They stop in front of another shelf, this one filled with a variety of math books instead of the stacks upon stacks of the 100-level course texts. He looks at the books once, then spends the rest of the time watching the other man 

"Hmm... 421 should be here, but we might still be waiting on those. I can check at the computer for you, and set up text or email notices." 

"You don't need to do all that."

"Well, it is my job, so I sort of do, but... I'm happy to. Your phone, sorry." He ducks his head, so his fringe falls into his eyes again, and his fingers brush warm and gentle against Pythagoras's when he hands the phone back. "You're taking Advanced Calc for Engineering? I loved that course in undergrad."

"What?" Pythagoras finds that his fingers do something odd and unpredictable at that moment, where they curve into the touch and hang onto it for what's probably a second too long. Definitely two seconds too long. "No, no--I'm teaching it."

The smile on the other man's face broadens and he looks about to laugh, then Icarus checks himself. "So you probably really don't need an email alert, right. What if," he says, "I give you my email address instead? Would that be alright?"

"I rather think that would," Pythagoras says. By the time he leaves the store, not only does he have the email of an engineering grad student, but plans for coffee at a cafe that stays open quite late and isn't very near campus.


End file.
